The Assistant
by calalily
Summary: Abby gets a new assistant. Disclaimer: All the characters and such belong to DPB and CBS except for any original characters. Nothing to sue for here.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS or it's characters. The only thing I claim are the original characters and the story. All else are owned by DPB and CBS. Nothing to sue over here.

Chapter 1

The woman signed the last page and returned the documents to the pretty redhead across from her.

"That's the last one." Director Shepard assured her. "Glad to have you on board." She stood to shake her hand.

"It's great to be working here, ma'am." The woman said.

"Let me take you to your new station." The two women walked through the bullpen, which was thankfully empty. Taking the elevator down to the lab, they stepped out to music blaring. The lab tech was standing at her main computer typing furiously and muttering to herself about getting information before Gibbs calls in.

"Abby." Director Shepard said loudly, getting her attention.

Abby turned and cocked her head to the side with a look that said 'can't you see I'm busy?' "Yes, Director, what can I do for you today?"

Director Shepard paused, knowing how badly this went last time. "Abby, I'd like to introduce you to Carly, your new assistant."

Abby's eyes narrowed. "You do remember the last assistant you tried to foist on me tried to frame Tony for murder and kill me? Do you think it's smart to send someone else down here? You know I work better alone."

"I know, Abby. Believe me, if we weren't behind, I wouldn't do this. I would simply assign her somewhere else. The truth is, we are behind and you need extra hands."

To this point, the newcomer had been standing there taking in her surroundings, but she spoke up here, "You'd be my boss. I would only do what you tell me to. And look at the bright side," she hurried to add when those green eyes locked on her with hostility, "you get a raise as well."

"Is that true? I get a raise for taking her?" Abby asked, nodding her head in the newbie's direction.

"Yes, this time it's true. You get a raise for all your hard work and for taking on a new assistant." The Director confirmed. "I'll leave you two to get acquainted."

Abby watched until the elevator doors shut and then jumped up and down. "You got the job!"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Gibbs was standing outside the apartment of victim number 3 getting fed up with the local police. "The first two vics were petty officers in the Navy. This murder fits the same profile." He explained to the newly appointed detective. "If you have any questions about whose case this is, call your Captain."

Gibbs ducked under the crime scene tape and rolled his head, trying to loosen the knots in his neck. "What have you got for me Duck?"

"Well, Jethro, this poor young woman was bound just like the others. See the bruising at the wrists and ankles…."

"Time of death, Ducky?"

"You're never interested in my preliminary findings, Jethro, that's a bit disheartening. She died sometime between 2:00 and 4:00 A.M. yesterday."

"He's stepped up his schedule Duck. The first two murders were a week apart. It's only been three days since Petty Officer Weston was killed." Gibbs looked up and watched McGee taking photos of the crime scene.

"Well, Jethro, if you had let me finish earlier, I would have told you this murder is slightly different from the first two."

"Duck, I know she's a civilian…."

With a sharp stare that caught Gibbs off guard, Ducky managed to silence the Special Agent. "Jethro, this young woman's bruises are in the same places as our young petty officers' but they are made from a different object. The patterns in the first two murders are more distinct and have left far more discoloration than these on young Ms. Davis. I'll know more once I can do a complete exam."

"Go ahead and go back to NCIS Ducky. We won't be here much longer." Gibbs told his friend and stood up.

"Boss, I've found something!" McGee shouted from the bedroom.

"What is it McGee?" Gibbs asked, walking into the room.

"Check this out." McGee told him and turned over a note.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Abby, hush. Someone might hear you." Carly said and smiled at Abby's enthusiasm. "You really put on a good show. The Director really thinks you don't want me here."

"I told you we could pull it off." Abby said and turned back to her keyboard. "I need to get into these encrypted files quick. Gibbs confiscated this computer from the first victim's boyfriend, Campbell Webster. He disappeared before Gibbs could question him. Get over here and help me, ok?" She looked over at Carly, "And why are you wearing that?"

Carly looked down at her own outfit and grimaced. "I had to be professional, you know that. These dress pants are killing me though. I wish I could wear my..."

She was interrupted by the telephone. Abby sighed and answered, "You're on the air."

"Abby, what have you got for me." It wasn't a question, Gibbs expected her to have the information he needed.

"I'm still working on it Gibbs. I told you it would take me a few hours. It's only been forty minutes."

"Abs, I need that information. Now."

"I'm working as fast as I can."

"Do I need to send McGee back there to help you?"

"No." Abby replied and motioned for Carly to come over and help get started. "Besides, the Director has already hired another assistant for me."

There was a pause and then Gibbs cursed. "I'll talk with the Director and make sure she understands you don't need help. I'll get him out of there, just get me the information."

"Actually, Gibbs, he's a she and she's trying to ingratiate herself to me. She's already brought me a Caff-Pow. I might let her stay for a few days and run my errands." Abby told him just as they broke into the system. "Got that info for you, bossman. Webster was having some very frequent chats with another person that goes by the name footballerfreak. Really, couldn't they have come up with something a little more unique? That took all of two seconds to think about probably."

"Focus Abby. What were they talking about?" Gibbs broke in.

"You never let me have any fun. Ok, they mainly talked about bondage…oooh, kinky. But then they started chatting about female navy personnel and what it would be like to have total control over a military woman. I gotta tell you, Gibbs, it sounds like they were really getting into this."

Carly pulled up one chat and opened the attached file. Clicking a few buttons, she put them up on Abby's screen.

"Gibbs, whoever footballerfreak is, he posted pictures of the two vics in a chat with Webster. I'm working on tracing the actual owner of the account. It might not be necessary though" Abby told him and read the new IM that Carly pulled up. "They have a meeting scheduled at 4:00 PM today at the…."

"Cyber Café off Dunkman Avenue." Gibbs finished for her.

Rolling her eyes, Abby asked him, "If you knew that, why did you call me?"

"I needed to see if the note was right. It looks like footballerfreak may have given Webster ideas with those pictures. Ducky's coming back in with vic number 3 and the bruises look different. Is there anything else that will tell me who this footballerfreak is?"

"Just that he's Caucasian and he's got a tat of a sword on the inside of his right arm."

There was a pause while a horn blasted over the speaker. "How do you know that, Abs?"

"It's in the picture Gibbs. I'm psychic but not that psychic. Oh and Gibbs…."

"Yes, Abby?"

"Have you shaved the 'stache yet?"

All the two women heard was dead air. Abby just grinned at Carly giving her thumbs up.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"What have you got for me Ducky?"

"Really Anthony, I just got back with Gibbs' third victim. Do you honestly believe I've had time to examine your young Marine?"

With his trademark smirk, Tony answered, "Come on, Ducky. I know you've run some tests and you want to tell me everything you've found out about Jeffers. Give me the dirt."

"Really, Tony, as you can see for yourself, I've barely had time to send young Palmer up to Abby with a blood sample and the scrapings from under his nails. I'll need just a bit more time with him before he'll give up the rest of his secrets."

Already walking back to the elevator, Tony said, "All right Ducky. I'll go see Abby. Call me the minute you find anything."

The doors shut and Ducky stood looking at the two perfectly healthy yet dead young people on his tables. "Oh dear, which one of you is ready to tell me your story now?"

"Abby, what have you found out from those blood and scrapings Ducky sent up here?" Tony asked as he walked into the lovely Goth's lab. "Why aren't you playing any music? I thought with Gibbs back, you'd be blasting away again."

"Hello to you too, Tony." Abby said with a smile. "I was just going to call you with these results."

"What are they and who is she?" Tony inquired while looking at the attractive, dark-haired woman in the lab.

"That's my new assistant, Carly. The Director gave her to me as a present."

Tony looked closer at the woman. "You don't have a grudge against me do you?"

Carly gave him an amused glance from her computer and answered, "Nope. Never knew who you were until you walked in here."

"Ok." Tony said and turned slowly back to Abby. "Abs, what are the results?"

"Well, the blood sample came back fine. Jeffers wasn't drugged or on drugs when he wrecked his car. What makes things hinky is that fact that the scrapings came back as a match to Campbell Webster. The same guy that Gibbs is on his way to pick up…."

Before she could tell him where, Tony was in the elevator on his cell.

"Well, how's that for appreciation?" Abby asked and Carly just shook her head, smiling.

"Abby?" Carly said.

"Hmm?"

"You can turn the music back on now. It helps me stay focused."

With a click of the remote, music once again blasted from Abby's stereo.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"Gibbs."

"It's DiNozzo. Abby just made a connection between the guy your after and my dead guy. She said you were picking him up. Where are you?"

"We've bringing Webster in for questioning."

"How far out are you?"

"DiNozzo, you passed me turning out of the parking lot."

With a grimace Tony said, "Right, I'll be back in a moment."

By the time Tony arrived back at headquarters, McGee was already in the interrogation room. Gibbs was watching through the two-way and Tony and Ziva joined him.

"Mr. Webster, we have your computer. We have all the IM's and chats between you and footballerfreak along with the pictures of the two victims. Would you like to explain all that to me, or should I go get Gibbs again?" McGee asked the man, leaving out the third victim on purpose.

"No! Don't bring him in here. It wasn't my idea to kill anyone. Footballerfreak suggested we play a game and my girlfriend was all for it. She was into trying different things and I went along. We met at Anne's place and that maniac put her in those leather cuffs really tight. When she started to protest, he…"

"He what, Webster?" McGee asked when the other man's voice broke off. "What did you let him do to your girlfriend?"

"He went crazy. He started cursing her and hitting her. When I tried to stop him, he pulled a gun on me. He told me to leave…"

"And you left her there?" McGee asked, unable to accept this idiot's version of the story.

"He would have killed me!" Webster cried.

"I might kill you for not being a real man." McGee told him in a harsh voice.

"What?"

"Why didn't you call the cops? Why didn't you say anything? If you didn't want her dead, why were you such a wimp?"

"I, I…"

"That's what I thought. I'll be back." And with that McGee stormed out the room leaving everyone in the next room in silent shock.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Gibbs left the observation room with determination in his stride. Ziva and Tony ran to catch up with him and find McGee. He was sitting at his desk, muttering to himself, shaking his head and going through crime scene photos and notes.

"McGee, what was that about?" Gibbs asked loudly, startling Agent Lee who had been working on tracing Jeffers financial statements for Tony while everything was going down.

"Boss, something about Webster just sets me off. And I'm not just talking about the fact that he knew his girlfriend was going to be killed by this other person. Something isn't adding up and I had to come look these over."

"What are you looking at, McGee?" Tony asked, craning his neck to see what the agent saw.

"Crime scene photos from Anne Sawyer's apartment. Ducky found bruising consistent with someone hitting her, but the bruises weren't made with the same force as the bruises from the restraints. It's almost as if the person hitting her wasn't as assertive…"

"As the one that bound her with the restraints." Gibbs finished.

"I think Webster was the one hitting her, for whatever reason, and he watched while this other man killed his girlfriend. Petty Officer Weston was Anne Sawyer's closest friend on base. We interviewed her after Anne's murder and she seemed uneasy but wouldn't admit to knowing anything. I haven't found any evidence in any of our reports that said she knew about what was going on. Why would they kill her?"

Before Tony could interject, the screen in the bullpen came to life.

"Hey, guys. We found something you might be interested in." Abby interrupted.

"Go ahead Abs," Gibbs and Tony said at the same time.

"Yes, sirs!" Abby replied with a smart salute. "Carly was looking at Penny Weston's laptop and found some IM's that were deleted but saved on the hard drive. Apparently, two days before Anne Sawyer's last date, she confided in her friend about the awesome night she was looking forward too. According to the IM's, Anne was excited at the prospect of what could happen, but Penny was asking her to be careful. It also looks like Penny knew footballerfreak and was trying to warn Anne that he could get out of control. The bad news is that neither of them mentioned who this guy was by name."

"Good work, Abby." Gibbs and Tony said once again in unison.

"One question, guys. Since you have Campbell Webster in custody, have any of you looked for scratches on him?"

Tony answered, "No, not yet. McGee threatened to shoot him so we thought we'd let him stew a while."

"McGee! I am impressed." Abby said and grinned at the camera. "One more thing, Tony, about your guy Jeffers, Ducky completed his autopsy and found a strange patch of skin on his arm. He wanted to show it to you."

"On my way. Thanks Abby."

"You're quite welcome." She told them and cheekily saluted them again before turning off the feed.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"Ducky, Abby said you had something for me?"

"Tony, yes, come take a look at young Mr. Jeffers. Considering that his car partially caught fire when he crashed I wasn't surprised to find burns on his body, but one like this gave me pause."

"Like what Ducky?" Tony asked with newfound patience.

"Take a look." Ducky said and moved down to point to the burns on Jeffers legs. "These burns are obviously from the car fire. They were postmortem, but did significant damage. This one however was definitely done while he was alive. You see the way the skin has turned white with charring at the edges of the burn? Someone deliberately burned this man's arm with something very hot."

"Do you think it's possible this burn was what caused Jeffers to wreck his car Ducky?"

"It's possible. It's very difficult to drive a standard shift automobile with only one arm, which in all likelihood he would have been doing. Even if the worst part of the burn was numb, he still could have been in pain from the second-degree part of the wound. I knew this one young man in…" Ducky turned to address Tony face-to-face and found him getting onto the elevator. "Stop smiling Mr. Palmer, they will walk out on you as well when you start talking about something other than their case."

Jimmy quickly hid his smile from Dr. Mallard and went back to his task of logging the scant few traces of evidence that had been collected from Georgia Davis, victim number three.

"Agent DiNozzo, I've been going through Webster's financial records and I think I've found something."

"What is it, Agent Lee?" DiNozzo asked walking to his desk.

"He was leasing a second apartment."

McGee walked back into interrogation once again in control of himself. Tony walked in behind him and watched the man look between the two of them trying to figure out what was going on. "Webster, you want to tell me who Pete Jeffers is?" McGee questioned, sitting down at the table.

Webster's face went white and beads of sweat starting forming on his forehead. "Who?"

"Ah, come on, you can tell us." Tony said from behind the nervous man. "We just want to find him."

"Find him? Why do you need to find him?"

"You gonna tell us how you know him?" McGee asked again. When Webster just sat there, McGee slapped his hand down on the table causing him to jump.

"I don't know him. I've never heard of Pete Jeffers."

"Come on, Campbell, sure you have. And you know where we can find him don't you?" Tony asked, coming to stand beside McGee. Between the two men staring at him, Webster broke.

"He took it too far and killed Anne. We were only supposed to be having fun. Then I found out that Penny knew about him and he knew her. He said we couldn't have any other people knowing what happened. He killed Penny and sent me pictures bragging about the two kills and how it made him feel. So I found his girlfriend and decided to pay back the favor."

"You killed Georgia Davis as payback?" McGee asked, really wanting to put his hands around the other man's throat. "Why didn't you just kill Jeffers instead?"

"I did!" Webster shouted then realized what he had admitted.

McGee sat there in stony silence waiting for him to continue. When nothing else was said, McGee looked at Tony. "Well, he just admitted to killing two people and knowing about two other murders. Do we really need to hear more before we let Gibbs take him down?"

Tony almost laughed at the look on Webster's face. "Might be that we could hold Gibbs off if he makes a full confession."

"I will! I will tell you everything. Just don't let that man in here." Webster pleaded.

McGee pushed over the legal pad and pen. "Start writing."

Once Webster was taken away, the whole group gathered in the bullpen.

"So, he was actually in the car when it crashed?" Agent Lee asked.

"Yep." Tony answered. "According to Abby's report on the car fire, it was arson. There were barely any marks from the taser on Jeffers and that's why Ducky didn't find them until right before we questioned Webster."

"Webster killed Ms. Davis not realizing that Jeffers had left behind a note about the meeting today, which he didn't' think we'd find out about. He had another meeting set for the same time and didn't change it. Stupid. Anyway, Webster shocked Jeffers, tied him down, and burned the tat off his arm so if found no one could connect him to the murders, thus connecting the two of them." McGee explained.

"So then he forced Jeffers at gun point to drive him out past city limits where he made him wreck the car?" Ziva asked trying to get the situation clear in her mind. "Seems like a lot of trouble to go through to kill him."

"He was hoping the car fire would be fully involved by the time the fire department arrived, but a passing motorist called it in before the car could all go up." McGee told them visibly angry at the situation still.

"Down tiger," Tony told him, patting the top of his head. "We've got him and he's not going anywhere." He took a drink of his coffee. "By the way, what did Gibbs do to make him so scared?"

Gibbs stood up from his desk and grabbed his coffee. "I'm a Marine. I don't have to do anything, DiNozzo."

McGee smiled and realized Gibbs and Tony were both drinking their coffee at the same time. "Gibbs, he's still acting a lot like you."

Both men looked disgruntled at that statement.

At the same time they announced, "Abby's got a new lab assistant."

They walked off together leaving McGee, Ziva and Agent Lee looking at each other in surprise.

The End

Calalily


End file.
